Cruel Intentions
by Blueberry and Blacktooth
Summary: When Maude is sentenced to spend her last year of highschool with her uncle and cousin, she goes without too much of a fight. Hiding behind carefully built walls of nihilism, bravado and film references, to her its just another way to escape the tedium of her usual life. When she hears of "perfect but unattainable" Edward Cullen, her interest is peaked, and a fun bet is made. EC/OC
1. Chapter 1

_**Hi friends. Back again with my nonsense.**_

 _ **Not to worry though! TCS will be updated this week, and January will get an update in the next couple weeks, so look out for that for all those who follow those two fics.**_

 _ **WARNINGS : This fic follows a whole lot of cliché teen movie tropes, and is loosely based off of the drama **Cruel Intentions **and Marina and the Diamond's song** How to be a Heart Breaker **. If any of those three things put you off, well. Also, the fic is pretty dark; depression, contemplations of suicide and harmful coping mechanisms abound. Lastly, topics of societal issues such as racism, homophobia, sexism and Western Imperialism are in it. Any bigoted readers are suggested to turn away now.**_

 _ **Thanks so much for reading, and hope you guys enjoy this first chapter. Sadly, things only really start to get fun in the next one. I'll try for an update every weekend, but you guys know that I have hella commitment issue sjdskdks**_

 _ **Cruel Intentions is a giftfic to one of my favorite people in the world, thank you so much for being my friend, ily so much 333**_

 _ **Review?**_

 _ **:)**_

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 **Full Summary** :

 _When Maude is sentenced to spend her last year of highschool with her uncle and cousin, she goes without too much of a fight. Hiding behind carefully built walls of nihilism, bravado and film references, to her its just another way to escape the tedium of her usual life. When she hears of "perfect but unattainable" Edward Cullen, her interest is peaked, and a fun new bet is made. Can she grab his attention by the end of the school year? If it means shutting up the local mean girls and earning some cash along they way, of course! Hopefully she can do it without her sanctimonious cousin getting in the way. But little does she know, Edward is much more than he seems._

* * *

"What do you think? I know it's not what you're used to, what with your mother's tastes but..." Uncle Charlie trailed off with a shrug. He stood fidgeting in front of the police cruiser, an awkward yet hopeful look on his face as he watched me for my reaction.

Huddled in a blanket in an attempt to shield myself from the cold weather, I didn't particularly care much about anything other than finding an immediate heating source to form an opinion on it. And yet, faced with his big brown eyes, I made myself muster up a smile and trail appreciative eyes over the two story house we stood in front of. Typical home in white suburbia, I thought, wrinkling my nose. With a wide porch and the American flag outside, I had no doubt that our neighbors were all very 'respectable people'. The forest behind (next to, all around) it was thick and oppressive, a gloom that seemed to stare back at me the longer I tried to peer in. I could already tell that nighttime lounging on the porch was a no go for me, not with a view like that. The heavy clouds in the town blocked out the sunshine and cast everything grey, and though it was scarcely even six pm, the house was already lit up from the inside.

It was all very dreary, I thought, the smile becoming strained on my face. I could understand perfectly why my mother had skipped town the moment she'd been old enough to get away with it, and hadn't returned since.

Uncle Charlie was right. It _wasn't_ something I was used to. Hailing from Portland, I was used to more upscale surroundings, with houses of artfully faded stone and wide glass that was more wall than window. The forests there were lighter somehow, more like an ethereal fairytale land than these woods straight out of a horror movie, and after casting a glance at the rest of the street, the houses weren't so far apart either.

I couldn't imagine having to spend a whole year in this place. The most exciting thing I'd seen since entering the town limits were the posters advertising the annual local fishing contest, promising to be "A Big Splash!", and even then they looked like they'd been made with Office 2005, with a few clip art fish slapped on before the maker decided to call it a day.

'GAPhIc DeSiGn is My pAsSIon'. I wanted to scoff out loud.

Still, faced with the expectant silence of my mother's brother, I had no choice but to feign excitement.

"It's great!" I exclaimed. "I really love the peace and quiet," I said for added credibility, though this was, of course, a lie. I hated the quiet, I wanted noise; I loved the cacophony of the city, the buzz of voices, the music trickling out of jazz clubs everywhere you passed, street performers loudly proclaiming their art, cars honking at skateboarding kids recklessly throwing themselves in the roads and laughing at exasperated drivers –it was all proof of _life_. And God knew that's what I needed right now.

My uncle seemed much relieved at my answer, his moustache twitching with his small smile, and I couldn't bring myself to regret the lie. "That's, uh. I'm happy," he declared, before hefting up my duffle bag sitting on his shoulder and turning to walk up towards the house, my bright pink suitcase rolling along beside him. I cast one more glance around, trying to ignore the creepy feeling of it all and the stares of nosey neighbors, and hurried along after him, my camera bag bouncing with each step.

The house inside was much more cheerful than I expected. The walls were painted a dusty blue, with tastefully colored curtains that made the whole place feel much more vibrant than at first glance. The furniture was a mix and match of old school woodland and modernity–worn out couch with navy cushions, brown leather arm chairs, an animal pelt thrown over the arm of the leftmost one, mahogany coffee table with a clear glass topping- it seemed like two different people had fought over which stayed and which went, and yet the effect of it all was oddly pleasing, homey even.

The kitchen was divided by an alcove a little ways away, the cupboards painted a bright sunshine yellow with fluttering white shades on the windows, though the four man dinner table was old and haggard, the chairs not sitting _quite_ up right. The dishes were washed to sparkling, lined on the dish rack by the sink, all different colors and none matching the other, and there was a jar stuffed with coins and bills on top of the old fridge labeled 'Grocery Money'. It was all very organized, and didn't strike me as my uncle's doing.

Photos lined the walls, as well as what I suspected to be a real stuffed sword fish hung and numerous framed awards for various fishing contests from different years, and even what seemed to be a golden fishing pole. Uncle Charlie, it seemed, was a veteran when it came to such things.

I was more interested in the occupant of most of the picture frames, a pretty, soft looking white girl with dark brown hair and shy chocolate eyes that, despite her (vague) efforts to smile, revealed how uncomfortable she was. The viewer grows up with her due to the different stages of youth we see through the images; a six year old looking mousy but happy in a pink tutu, a nine year old with scraped knees in shorts and a bucket hat awkwardly holding a tuna fish while her father beams brightly in a crouch next to her, a thirteen year old in a blue dress with scuffed sneakers holding a certificate, other children in the background, all stuffed into formal wear by their parents, smiling with their own certificates. And yet, no matter what age, the girl stays the same, still slightly hunched into herself, still looking just a little bit lost.

I knew the girl of course, though we hadn't seen in each other in some years. Bella wasn't much different in real life. Actually she was worse. Never fully enunciating her words, speaking in more of a timid mumble than anything, always looking towards the floor and hiding behind whichever adult figure just happened to be present to avoid playing with the other children –though in that I couldn't blame her. She couldn't even manage ten steps with swaying dangerously on her feet or tripping over some unseen obstacle. Games like tag or Girls vs Boys were life-threatening to her. My brother and I had even taken to making a game of seeing how many times she could fall by herself unprompted in a day –or for however long we were seeing each other for.

We didn't tend to see each other often, considering we'd lived on completely opposite sides of the country. It was only when she'd come to visit her father in Forks for the summer, that she and Uncle Charlie would take the drive up to Portland for a visit. It was also her father's yearly attempt at maintaining a connection with his sister. My mother hadn't voluntarily stepped foot in it since my Grandfather had died sometime after I was born.

Tensions had been rife even before that, what with their parents disapproving of my mother's choice of disappearing off to Mali for two years and coming back with a husband and a darkskin son with kinky hair. Her job in the Peace Corps before that had already been met with skepticism on their part; they were 'hard traditionalists', and believed the most adventurous job a woman should have is working in a corporation. She not marrying a suitable white banker/lawyer/insert 'respectable position' here, and instead marrying an _African_ was the height of shame. Which it was in their circles. Forks is a small town, an _old_ town. Staunchly Christian and Republican, majority white. The Swans had been living here for generations –for my mother to do that was enough to cause scandal for years.

If Charlie didn't make the effort to go see her, then it was likely their relationship would be relegated to phone calls only.

So they made the trip up to visit us, and he'd stay for a couple of hours afterwards so that he and my parents could catch-up (which was code for "awkwardly sit around the living room and ask the same round of questions every fifteen minutes while going though copious amounts of coffee and biscuits to keep their mouths busy"), before leaving his daughter with us for a week to spend time with Forrest and I. It was, I suspected, an attempt to create the bond between us children he'd never shared with his sister, but with Bella being so shy, and us seeing each other only once a year, it never really worked out. She'd stopped visiting sometime after my fourteenth birthday, and we hadn't seen her since.

"Bells! Come on down and say hi to your cousin!" My uncle called from the base of the stairs.

When she descended the stairs, clutching the hand railing as if her life depended on it, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. She hadn't changed a bit. Literally. She was still the exact same height she was at fourteen, petite five foot four, and still wearing a worn t-shirt I vaguely recognized as her go-to home wear.

"Hi Maude," she said, and she even gave me a smile. Uncle Charlie was looking between the two of us with a hopeful expression, and so I stepped forward with a grin and gave her a hug.

"Bella! It's been so long! It's so good to see you again!" I exclaimed with false cheer. Honestly, the two of us had never really gotten on. Our interests never aligned, and I found her almost painfully boring. There was nothing she seemed to _enjoy -_ with her it was always "I don't like this" or "I don't like that", no matter what was put before her. I remember one time my father had taken us all to the water park for the weekend, and while Forrest and I ran around like possessed children, she'd sat with my mother under the shade every time we ventured outside, rejecting participation in all activities no matter how much we tried to cajole her. What child doesn't like the _water park?_

Timidly she patted my back in return, though it was a challenge with my camera bag slung over my shoulder. When she stepped away, I grabbed hold of her hand instead. "You've gotten prettier! And your skin is _amazing_ , ah, I'm so jealous!" I gushed.

"Thanks," she said, though her expression was strained. Compliments and girl talk? Those didn't even register in Bella's dictionary. "And same to you," she answered. I had to commend her for making the effort at least. Her father couldn't look happier- though the only way to see it was by taking note of the twitch in his bushy moustache. Bella hadn't gotten her characteristic awkwardness from Aunt Renée that was for certain. With just the two of them in this house, it was a wonder they could get anything done.

"Why don't you two girls, uh, catch up, and I'll just take Maude's things upstairs," said Uncle Charlie. He didn't waste time, hauling my suitcase and duffle up the stairs, looking eager to be away from this 'heartfelt girl's reunion'.

Bella and I watched him until he disappeared into the hallway, and as soon as he was out of sight, I let go of his daughter's hand, my smile slipping away. Bella avoided my gaze, wringing her fingers together. The silence stretched on.

Finally, she gestured lamely to the kitchen. "I normally take care of dinner around here, since Charlie's…well." She left it at that, but I understood. She looked at my bag dubiously. "That seems a bit heavy, so you can go on up and relax a little? I'll let you know when it's ready."

It seemed she still called her father by her first name. The first time Forrest and I had heard her use it when referring to him, we'd been scandalized. To us, our father had firmly been nothing but "Pére" or "Papa".

But that was just yet another thing which made Bella a weirdo, I supposed.

"I'd like that, thanks," I replied.

"Um, your side is on the left side of the room. I already set everything up over the weekend, so you can just settle in."

Right. We'd been sharing a room. I'd almost forgotten. I wished I'd forgotten.

The bedroom itself wasn't all that bad when I got up to it. It was a little cramped, but workable. There were two single beds on opposite sides, a white dresser between the two of them, with two lamps on each end. A neat work desk with a prehistoric computer sat next to the wooden wardrobe, and there were cute fairylights draped around the perimeter. The curtains were a deep purple, complimenting the lavender of the walls and the bedcovers which were mauve on both beds.

My bed sat right underneath the window, boasting a front row seat to the creepy ass tree right outside, with spindly limbs that reached right to the windowsill, and the looming woods beyond.

Right then.

 _Just one year of this_ , I thought, setting my bag down and flopping onto the bed. After that I was free.

That is, if I didn't kill myself first.

* * *

Dinner was bland and unseasoned, just like its maker.

It was roast chicken and potatoes, though even to my vegetarian eyes, I'd never seen a sadder looking chicken in my life. Uncle Charlie was living though, digging in with a quiet relish that let show how much he enjoyed it. Bella picked and prodded at her food, nibbling every once in a while. She'd never been a big eater.

I contented myself with the potatoes, all the while trying to reassure Bella and Uncle Charlie that no, it was perfectly alright, they didn't know, it was a relatively recent development (actually I'd been veg since fourteen, but that was when Bella stopped coming over so…) and they really shouldn't apologize. Still, the potatoes only had salt and black pepper to their name, and that was just sad.

I decided that I'd be taking care of my own cooking from then on.

The silence at the table was oppressive, but I was used to it and managed to eat my food with little issue. Even back home, dinners for the last year had been somber affairs. Forrest and I always seemed to lose our words when it came to speaking with our mother.

Soon enough the food was put away, and after helping Bella with the dishes and figuring out a new way to divvie up the housework –because if I was going to be living with them for a year it was the polite thing to do-, the both of us headed upstairs at the completely unsubtle urging over her father.

The silence between the two of us in the bedroom wasn't any better, really. My brother always gets on my case for "taking a sick pleasure in making people feel uncomfortable", but this time I couldn't even deny it. Watching Bella positively _writhe_ in the awkward tension of our room was beyond entertaining. She fiddled with the school books on her table for a while, before picking up a textbook and making a sorry attempt at studying, and then gave up entirely and then proceeding to pick up a dry Classic and staring at the same page for over five minutes, knee bouncing and glancing at me from the corner of her eyes every few seconds.

Knowing her, she probably felt guilty about not being more open and conversing with me like a good roommate, but her naturally quiet demeanor conflicted enough with her intentions that she didn't know how to go about it naturally. I could tell because she'd displayed similar enough behavior in the past; Even though she'd always declined to participate in the more athletic games my brother and I often played with the other neighborhood kids (for good reason too) she'd still feel guilty about it, and would try make up for her aloofness by acting as a sort of on hand nurse –handing out juice boxes or administering band-aids if one of us fell, unable to sit completely still.

I rolled my eyes and decided to take pity on her after the fifteen minute mark passed and she still hadn't turned the page.

Putting down my phone, I sat up and turned to face her.

"Tell me," I started slowly, not even bothering to hide my amusement when she virtually jumped up at my words. "What's Forks High like? School is starting on Monday right? I'd like to know what I'm getting into." I said.

There it was –the look of sympathy in those big brown eyes as she stared at me. Bella was always trying to take care of people. "It's very cliquey, with the Jocks, the Cheerleaders and so on. It's like a stereotypical teen movie come to life. I guess because it's a small town everyone's trying to seem more important than they actually are?" She wrinkled her nose at this. Simple, Humble Bella. Always above such things. "Don't worry though, I'll be there with you every step of the way, and you can hang out with my friends."

She probably meant it to be comforting, but I could already tell Bella wasn't what one would call 'popular'. Her friends were probably the quiet book nerds of the school whose idea of fun was getting together for weekly study groups and flash card quizzes.

I doubted the school was as extreme as it sounded, what with less than five hundred students, but if it _was_ , I'd fit right in.

My old highschool boasted over one thousand students, a posh private school filled with kids all looking to murder each other to climb the social ladder. Getting punch drunk on the weekends at someone's sprawling beach house while somehow maintaining a 4.0 GPA throughout the school year (whether you did it through studying or fucking whichever professor mattered most didn't matter -either option was highly regarded and if you could manage _both_ at the same time, well, you were golden.) was expected of you. There, things like that _mattered_ , because ten years down the line, you might find out the company you're looking to work for is actually headed by an old classmate, and good luck to you if you were the sad acne ridden kid everyone used to make fun of.

While I didn't much care for the fakeness of it all, it had its own kind of charm. A distraction to the everyday miseries of life. Indeed, half of us were depressed and the other half high on medication to stave off that very same depression. Spoiled rich kids or not, we all had issues.

I'd been one of the " _It Kids_ ", just as Forrest had been before he'd gone off to college; perfect grades, perfect attendance to _all_ the best social events. Just because we no longer attend didn't mean people weren't paying attention to us. Social Media existed, and everyone knew _everyone_.

While having a familiar face around would certainly be nice, Bella was _not It_. It was my last year of highschool, my last year of hell before I was either free or death claimed me first. I was planning on making the most of it.

"Bless," I said, pasting on a smile. She smiled back; looking satisfied that she'd done her duty to make me feel reassured, before going back to her book and actually paying attention this time.

Bella was innocent and kind and lovely, always ready to put herself before others. I almost felt bad for her really.

Chances were she'd come to hate me before the end of the semester.


	2. Chapter 2

**I told y'all I have commitment issues.**

 **Happy Sunday to you all, even though it's once Sunday too late. Still, I hope you guys can enjoy my little offering here, short as it is. I felt really guilty about letting another weekend pass me by without updating, so I quickly headed to my laptop and pushed this out.**

 **Here we get to know Maude a little bit more, and I know I said things would finally start to get fun, I think that we should get a little bit of a glimpse into or main heroine's personality and inner thoughts before things really get rolling. I hope no one is disappointed.**

 **Thank you for all the kind words and support I've received. You are all loved and appreciated, and for January fans; just a little bit longer!**

 **Review?**

 **:)**

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The thing about Bella, for all her faults, was that she was filled to the brim with kindness.

Sometimes her tender heart got her into more problems than she bargained for (Read: the one summer when we were eleven and she tried to help a homeless man and unknown to us, a drug addict, who then subsequently tried to run off with her -luckily Forrest and I were present at the time and managed to get the man to let her go after a well placed kick to the crotch from my brother, and my tackling him to the ground while ripping at his hair and shrieking bloody murder.) and sometimes that same kindness reached a point that it started blurring the line into naivety, but the fact was that Bella was always ready to go out of her way to help others before she helped herself, and I could appreciate that.

Really, as much as I didn't understand her on the best of days, we'd known each other almost all our lives and we'd been through a lot together. And even on that day with the almost-abduction we'd fought in the morning; she'd kept lecturing me about folding my clothes and not throwing them in a haphazard pile on a chair as I was typically wont to do –because even at that age Bella was a mother hen- and I, impatient and full of energy and better things to do, couldn't be bothered to give a damn. But later on, when my parents had sent the three of us to the corner store for snacks and Hush Puppies to munch through on a rare sunshine day in Portland, as soon as I saw that man –bloodshot eyes, white around the mouth, blue fingernails, leering gaze- all our differences were forgotten in favour of making sure he _get the fuck off of her_.

Because she was family, or if my father's African values were to be believed, she was my _sister_.

It was why I hadn't minded too much when my mom up and declared on day that I was to be staying with them for my Senior Year, because she, a white American, was being sent to patch up one of the many countries in the Global South that had been victim to Imperialism by a Western 'NGO' and would be stationed there for two years.

It wasn't the first time she'd gone away, with her job in the Peace Corps, she was always jetting in and out of the country, but it was the longest she'd been gone since I'd before I'd been born. Forrest and I normally stayed with Pére whenever she was out on her brief one month-two month missions, who was a Specialized French professor in the Language department at the University of Oregon and didn't ever leave the house if it wasn't for classes or work related issues, but Forrest had transferred out of State at the beginning of the year and since…

Well, since.

Mom thought because she saw a ghost every time she turned the corner, I did too, and thus couldn't be allowed to stay in our big two storey house all on my own, despite me legally being an adult. That was fine, I could accept that, I'd be the first to admit that I wasn't all that okay on the best of days, and living alone with no supervision wouldn't be conclusive to better decision making, even though I really, _really_ wanted to.

Things had been tense between the two of us for a while. Or, it could be better stated that, things had been coming to a head _for a while_. My relationship with my mother was distant. She wanted things of me that I couldn't give her, and a part of her, though she tried to hide it, resented me for it. Forrest had it easier, because he was a guy and she didn't hold him to the same expectations, one of many things that I resented _her_ for, but lately their relationship hadn't been any better, causing him to leave. With his presence as a buffer gone, it wouldn't have been long before things exploded.

I didn't have much tying me down to my city; it was a great place, and I loved it, but I'd had no intentions of living in it for my whole life. My relationships with friends and boyfriends were all shallow and didn't warrant any sadness over, and my grades were good enough that moving to a whole different school in my last year wasn't even a problem.

I think that my mother hoped that the change of environment would be enough to get me out of my depression and nudge me a little more in the way of genuinely enjoying life, and not the playacting I'd been doing for the last three years, and secretly, I did too.

Forks.

Ridiculous name aside, it was less than ideal. Bella's boring descriptions of it and my mother's thinly veiled disdain had never made me interested in ever seeing it for myself, and now that I was actually here, I was more tempted to jump off the nearest cliff than ever.

The place was boring as hell –wait no, that wasn't a good comparison. Hell, if it actually existed, was interesting, what with the flames and demons and screeching souls crying for mercy. With the shit I'd done, I probably had a whole seat reserved just for me, and I wasn't even twenty yet. Forks, rather, should've been compared to Purgatory. Blank and endless, with nothing but silence around you and no defining characteristics to keep you entertained.

I'd been here four days, having arrived on a Thursday, and on the third day of being cooped up, I'd grabbed my camera bag and the keys to Bella's garish Red Fossil, and tried to discover something _interesting_. But there was nothing. The town was like something built on a set, ready to be dismantled again at any minute, there just to act as 'Generic Backwater Town 3' than anything, with its inhabitants as undefined and undeveloped as Extras meant to shut up and not draw attention to themselves.

The stares I'd gotten as I drove, and later walked, around were filled with a wary kind of curiosity, as if even they couldn't understand what I was doing in a town like theirs. I stood out, as narcissistic as it sounded; me with my freckled brown skin and gold-dyed hair cut short and boyish, with pierced ears and the most shocking of all, actual effort put into the clothing that I wore.

Everyone seemed to be wearing a default uniform of worn jeans tucked into rain boots and bundled into heavy waterproof jackets. It was sickening.

I saw no one under the age of thirty roaming around, even though I knew, in theory that they had to be around somewhere. Later, when I'd asked Bella why that was, she'd shrugged and said, "It's the weekend. The kids here all hang out in Port Angeles or the Beach." before going back to yet another one of her numerous dry Classics that she actually _enjoyed_ , for reasons unknown to me.

Her words cemented the picture of Forks in my mind, it was so boring that not even its locals wanted to hang around in it.

It was a bit disappointing, I'd wanted to at least scope out what the teenagers here liked, their behaviors and if they were as 'cliquey' as Bella had said, but with them all gone, I didn't get the chance.

Instead I spent the day at the only Gas Station in town, sitting on a lawn chair with my phone in hand and my camera rolling next to me on its tripod, People Watching. The strange looks I received were negligible once I realized that in the four hours I'd sat there and over thirty vehicles that came in to refill their tanks, only three of them contained a families of Colour, one of which was black, and the other two Native Americans, or as I liked to call them, Actual Americans.

Uncle Charlie had told me there was a reservation nearby, and that Bella, who was friends with some of the kids, could take me down to see it if I was interested, but the knowledge that Forks was actually a Settler-Colonial Town that was still practicing modern-day segregation on stolen lands pissed me off too much to accept the offer.

I _did_ intend to go down, it was the perfect opportunity to go down and get an idea of what the situation was like, and if I was lucky, get enough content to film, but that was better done when I wasn't seething with anger at the mere thought of it.

Regardless of my unsettling discovery, the Reservation was deadass the most interesting thing I'd heard in relation to Forks in those four days, and in a sheer fit of boredom, I'd agreed to attend the Fishing Contest with Uncle Charlie on Sunday, just for something to do other than being cooped up inside with Bella all day, watching boring television and lamenting over the slow internet signal that barely allowed me to stream anything online with anything resembling fast efficiency while she simply giggled at me behind her dry-ass books and tried to assure me that "after a while, you get used to it.".

For her sake, I hoped I did, because in my case, with the lack of distractions for my mind, it was either that or Succumb to the soul-sucking black hole that was my mind, which according to every cheerful self-help post online, I should be trying really, really hard not to do.

Forrest found the whole thing far too amusing. The two of us were always texting each other, never an hour going by without at least message being exchanged, though how he managed to be constantly available to me, I had no idea, considering how busy he was with uni work and the time difference. He made things a little bit easier for me, at least, our Snaps and VNs going even late into the night when both Bella and Uncle Charlie were fast asleep. We'd made plans for me to go visit him for Winter Break, but even though it was only three months away, it seemed like a lifetime with me stuck in the oppressive greenery that tried to pass itself as a town.

I was restless and lethargic at once, alternating between rushing outside the house to make multiple rounds of the neighborhood before six am, and huddling under the darkness of my covers on Social Media and sleeping in until five in the afternoon at random intervals. It was obvious my Uncle and cousin didn't know what to make of my behavior, but during those first four days with them, they mostly left me to my own devices, which I appreciated.

I didn't call my mother.

* * *

I declined the offer to ride with Bella to and from school, much to her and her father's confusion. It was understandable, why decline when both she and I were to attend the same school for the rest of the year. And yet, I'd always preferred to walk to school, even back in Portland. There was just something about waking up and enjoying the quiet peace of a morning before the start to a long and oftentimes arduous day. Forks was ninety-percent nature, and it was getting well into the fall, which meant that mornings were crisp fresh with the smell of the forest and lined with red carpets of fallen red leaves. At least it made one good thing about the town.

I woke up earlier than both my uncle and Bella, so that I could have more time to get ready without feeling like I was awkwardly intruding in an already well-established morning routine. By the time I'd finished eating breakfast and beating my face well enough that I could confidently say that I'd probably be the best-looking person in a classroom at any given moment, Bella was only just getting up from bed.

"Morning," I greeted, picking up my backpack and draping my coat over my arm. I'd been just about to head out for the day.

Her hair was a mess, spilling around her and looking more like a haystack than anything, and she blinked at me with tired eyes. "Maude? You're already done?" She asked, eyes trailing to the alarm clock on the table next to her, digital red numbers flashing 6:30am.

I shrugged. "I'm an early-riser," I answered. Early riser and late sleeper. I probably slept four full hours a night on average, sometimes not at all. Coffee and false bravado went a long way with me.

She didn't seem awake enough to generate what she thought would be an appropriate response to that, and simply nodded. "You sure you don't want to ride with me? I really don't mind," she pressed.

I pasted on my best smile. "I'm fine, thanks." And because I didn't feel like hearing her insist on it as she'd been doing since the previous evening when I'd made my intentions clear, I lifted my hand in a wave, and booked it.

Uncle Charlie was having coffee when I hit downstairs, but I didn't stop to chat, halfway out the door and throwing a polite greeting on my way out. "Have a good day, Uncle Charlie!"

He too, like his daughter, was shocked at my appearance so early, judging by the surprise evident on his face, and I heard his belated reply of "You too!" when I was already past their driveway.

Forks Highschool wasn't so far that the distance was particularly daunting. I'd scoped it out the Saturday I'd commandeered the Red Fossil for myself, out of boredom and lack of anything to do than anything. By car, it was about ten minutes away, and that was at me driving at a snail's pace (any faster and the Red Fossil started making grave and distressing noises), which meant that it was also ten minutes on foot by virtue of it being half that amount of time in any normal car.

There were a few people already out and about, sweeping the dried leaves from their lawns and working on wiping the dew from their cars. A few of them gave me smiles, a few of them gave me strange stares, not quite used to my presence in their towns, but no one spoke to me and I was content to plug in my earphones and turn my world into a music video accompanied by the new-wave tones of Rina Sawayama. The sky was as overcast as usual, but I had an umbrella, and Portland was rainy enough itself that I didn't mind walking through it. Forks didn't see many storms, so much as there was almost constantly a light drizzle going on.

By 6:45 the old brick structure that was Forks high was well in my view, though both the students' and the teachers' parking lots were empty, save for a single red Volkswagen on the latter side. When I got further on the grounds, I noticed the office door to the reception was already open. I was in luck.

When I entered the office, I saw a redhead woman standing over the desk with a perm that belonged more in the eighties than it did in this day and age. She was arranging flyers and pamphlets in their slots, her back to the entrance, and didn't seem to realize that there was someone in the room with her.

I knocked on the door as not to startle her, but she seemed surprised anyways, whipping around with a gasp of surprise and a hand to her chest. "Oh dear me!" she exclaimed.

With her face revealed, I saw that she was well into middle age, with crow's feet she'd tried to hide under a heavy layer of concealer, and a thin mouth pulling downwards under the red lipstick she wore.

I gave her a charming smile. "Sorry to bother you, but I'm new here and I've come to get my schedule. My Uncle, Charlie Swan, should've already gotten the rest sorted out," I said to her, stepping further inside. The room looking like someone had tried hard to add a little cheer, but hadn't _quite_ succeeded. The spotted orange carpet looked like it was victim to a botched tie-dye job, the plants in the corner were fake a dropping, the banners hung up were lopsided and faded.

It was very sad.

"You're…Charlie's niece? _Susan's_ _daughter_?" The woman asked haltingly, looking me up and down with clear disbelief in her eyes. Susan was my mother, and it was more than likely that these two had attended this very same school at the same period. They were about the same age for it, and this woman seemed like a native to this town. It seemed that this woman couldn't believe that her peer's daughter was, well, me.

I fought to keep my smile on my face. "Yes. Maude Kane, daughter of Susan and Diomande Kane."

"Diomande Kane?" She repeated, looking even more lost, my father's name foreign to her ears.

"'Ji-Oh-Man-Deh Kah-neh', not ' _Kayne'_ , " I corrected. "Common mistake."

It took her a full minute to say anything more; she just stared at me with wide eyes, mouth agape. Finally after a long moment of silence, she sniffed, wrinkling her nose like she'd smelled something bad, and headed behind her desk. "Well then, let's get you sorted out, shall we?"

And still, I smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi all and welcome to another installment of Cruel Intentions! I couldn't update last weekend, which I'm sorry, but it seems like the update schedule is shaping up to be every second weekend instead. You guys know that nine times out of ten I really can't keep to the deadlines that I set, but I'm** _ **trying**_ **.**

 **First chapter of Forks High with canon characters! Maybe not the ones you'd hope for, but here nonetheless. I'd warned you that this fic will be following the stereotypical highschool tropes, so characters might be a little OOC than what you're used to, in order to make it all work. Hopefully they'll be enjoyed nonetheless. ALSO, I repeat, if anyone takes issue with hard dealing topics, or even jokes which could be seen as controversial (to a very** _ **minor**_ **group of people honestly) better jump off now because as we learn more about our Heroine's mindset, we also get a bit more…well it's just sad, I'll leave it that.**

 **Thank you everyone for all of your support! It gives me life and hope even in this dark, bleary world of ours.**

 **Review?**

 **:)**

* * *

"Hi, I'm Jessica! You must be the new girl!" A chirpy – _fake_ \- girl's voice greeted, startling me enough that I fumbled with the textbooks I had in my hands.

It had been a little over an hour since I'd been with the school secretary, whose name I'd later learned was Mrs. Cope - _not_ that I was ever planning to address her directly by name. A stilted interaction that had been little more than useless. She'd shoved my schedule and textbooks at me with thinly-veiled disdain, and when I'd asked for directions on how to get to said classes, she'd replied with a dismissive "the school isn't that big. You'll figure it out." before turning away to face her computer.

It wasn't that I was surprised; I'd been waiting for someone like her to their face eventually. It was a small town, and most everyone was of the pale variety, and on top of everything, I knew that my mother marrying a black man was still hot news, even over a decade later. I wasn't bothered by the secretary's behavior, or anyone else's should they surface. Their existence was irrelevant to me.

The girl who'd ambushed me, however, didn't seem put off. She said her name with purpose, as if it were supposed to _mean_ something, and coupled with the way she said 'new girl', meant that this girl was obviously looking to be a sort of guide to me, for lack of better word. I was Fresh Blood. She'd make nice but not _too_ nice, drag me _behind_ her while showing me off to her friends and also making it clear in unspoken words that I was not to talk unless she allowed it. I knew her kind well; indeed, I'd done it myself many times in the past.

It was amazing what a tone of voice could reveal about a person, truly.

I took my time in arranging my stuff, the door creating a barrier between us and not allowing her to see my face, which meant she'd effectively introduced herself to the metal instead. Closing my locker door would be rude, and she knew that, so she was forced to walk away, loudly demand my attention, or wait until I was done. The former two weren't an option; walking away would be awkward, but being obnoxious would make her seem desperate for my attention.

It was pushing seven forty-five, and the school had been alive for a while now, the hallways filled with chattering kids eager and reluctant at the same time to start a new school year. Banners were strung up all over the place, advertising different events ranging from basketball tryouts to the candidacy for this year's Student Body President. While the school itself barely had five hundred students, it was a lively place. It seemed that they were doing their best to forget that they were actually stuck in the backwaters of America, and with the amount of rain and large pools of water surrounding Forks, I meant that literally.

No one had tried to approach me thus far, thought their lingering looks on my person were obvious. I was probably the only new student, _even_ if it was a new year. This, plus the fact that I'd arrived earlier than even the teachers, had given me time to explore and flag down my classes. The buildings were labeled, but I didn't even need them.

After taking much more time than I needed to line up my new textbooks than was strictly necessary, I slowly closed the locker and turned to look at her. Or well, _down_ at her. She was a full head shorter than me. Perfect.

I gave a smile. "It's great to meet you. I'm Maude," I said. I didn't acknowledge the 'new girl' term she'd used.

Jessica was a nice enough girl, I supposed. She had straight blond hair that you could _see_ she took care of by the way it shined and flowed like water with every small movement she made, and her skin was pale but had sweet little red spots on her cheeks and nose. Her makeup was a little amateur, the winged eyeliner a whole mess in my opinion, but she'd _tried_ at least, with a pink look to compliment her sky blue eyes, glossy lips and all. Dressed in a pink long sleeved dress with a fluffy coat and ankle boots, I could tell Jessica leaned towards classically-feminine fashion. Her aura exuded confidence; she was certainly feeling herself today, I could tell by the way she stood before me, proud and sure of herself.

First day of Senior Year, Jessica probably felt _skinny_.

Really, she was cute all around, outfit included. But while 'cute' wasn't all bad for her, for me, who liked to wear everything from 90s RnB looks to Menswear and prided myself on being a risk-taking trendsetter, I could _never_.

It also meant that it would be almost pitifully easy for me to shove her off her high horse.

Jessica held out her hand, moving to the books she was holding to rest by sides, and I shook it with eagerness I didn't mean. Shorter than me or not, she didn't seem fazed, easily looking into my eyes. "It's my duty to come welcome new faces, as I'm Student Body President, and I thought you might need some help, so-"

A new voice interrupted before she could continue. "You're not President yet, Jess," they sang, inserting themselves neatly next to her. It was another blonde, though her hair was cut short and it wasn't quite as light as Jessica's. Instead, hers was of a more strawberry variety, brushed back fall to her collarbones. She was dressed similarly to the latter girl, going with the dainty lady-like look. A pretty knit jersey with a skirt and white stockings tucked into pumps. When I looked around, I noticed that most girls were favoring similar styles, pinks and pastels galore.

Well then.

"Soon enough, Lauren. I've been voted three years in a row, and that's unlikely to change. It's not like _you're_ going to steal the spot, will you?" Jessica laughed as the mere idea was unfathomable, complete with a hair flip and all.

"As your _assistant_ three years in a row, I think I might have a chance," the girl, Lauren sniffed, before turning to me, looking me up and down with a raised brow. " _You're_ Bella's cousin?" she asked, disbelief clear in her tone. I wondered how many more times I'd have to endure this.

"They're, like, so different, right? I just _had_ to come verify for myself," Jessica added. Then they both blinked at me expectantly. "Well, _are_ you?" Jessica asked, and I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Yes." I hadn't seen the girl in question since I'd left the house, though no doubt she'd have already arrived at school. I loved Bella, really I did, but if I had it my way, I wouldn't be seeing her again until we were home this evening.

"But, if you're Bella's cousin…why are you black?" Lauren asked, and Jessica hit her arm.

"Oh my god Lauren, you can't just ask people why they're black!" she hissed, using her hand to gesture to me up and down.

"Shook," Lauren declared, making the girl next to her make a commiserating noise.

"Well, you don't seem _too_ lame. At least you bothered to put some effort into your appearance. That, and the fact that you're like a _million_ times darker than her makes all of this seem like a bit of joke, you understand. "Jessica said. "Anyways, I'd thought I'd come show you around and explain how things work around here. I understand that starting a new school can be a little bit scary, and it would be rude of me to not help you, right?" Her smile was self-satisfied, like she was performing a great act of charity.

These two girls were probably in the more popular crowds, judging by the way they held themselves and the envious looks other girls had been shooting me since Jessica's approach, and they had been dominating the conversation from the beginning, probably not thinking that I was here to do anything more than fall into place as one of masses. It was time to change that.

"Actually, I can make my way around just fine, and I pick up things really easily, so you don't have to worry yourself over me. I'm happy Forks is filled with such helpful people like you though, a whole Ex-Student Body President coming to welcome me? I'm touched," I gushed, and oh, the way Jessica's smile strained and Lauren's brows rose with shock was just _lovely_. Jessica obviously wasn't doing this to be helpful, she was doing it for clout, and tacking the 'ex' onto her coveted title was the best way to convey that I wasn't buying it.

But this was a game, and she had a façade to hold up, so the smile didn't slip from her face. "Glad to help. Let me see your schedule, maybe we have some classes together," she said, hand held out expectantly.

"Oh, I hope so. It would be nice to have some familiar faces around. Here!" Instead of the slim piece of paper she was expecting, I reached into the locker and took out the books I needed for the morning, shoving them towards her. Jessica made a sound of shock, but reflectively caught them before they could hit the floor. I hid my smile behind the slip of paper Mrs. Cope had printed my schedule on and pretended to go over it.

My first class was Calculus, which required two heavy texts to get through, depending on what we'd be working on. It meant that along with her own textbooks for the morning, Jessica had a bit of a heavy load to hold on to if she wanted to keep up her 'helpful' appearance.

I barely held in a laugh.

"I've got Calculus with a…Mr. Barnaby? Building B," I said, hoping they didn't catch onto the amusement in my tone. Lauren, who had been watching her friend struggle with wide eyes, snapped to attention.

"Same!" She exclaimed. The grin I returned was genuine –Lauren didn't seem to be as alert as Jessica, indeed she was probably the other girl's sidekick more than anything. Being in close quarters with her without Jessica's influence would be the perfect opportunity to find out more about the going-ins the school, and recruit her on onto my side.

The first warning bell rang, signaling it was time to get moving, and I turned to Jessica, whose expression had been getting progressively more strained the longer she had to hold my books. She took in a breath to say something, but I didn't let her. "It's a shame you can't join us, Jessica. Having you around would certainly make things easier for me," I said, reaching out to hold Lauren's hand.

"Jess has History this morning, it's in D building. Such a bummer," Lauren explained, shifting closer to me and leaving Jessica across and separate from the two of us. She probably didn't realize how big of an action that was, but Jessica certainly did, judging by the way she tensed and her eyes flickered to Lauren with alarm, though she masked it behind a smile quickly enough.

Jessica's smile was bland. "Don't worry, Maude. We'll see each other at lunch."

"Of course," I chirped. "You should get to class now, since it's on the other side of campus. Lauren, be a sweetheart please, and hold my things for me while I grab my stationary."

Lauren didn't hesitate. "Sure, Maude!" she agreed, letting go of my hand and stepping forward towards the other blonde.

Jessica veritably threw the books in the girl's face, her eyes filled with murder even with the smile still on her glossy lips. Lauren stumbled but held them tight.

The second bell rang, and I raised a brow expectantly, waving her goodbye. "Later, Jess!" I said, and though I was beaming, Jessica could only accept the dismissal.

Jessica adjusted her own textbooks, and even with my own experience, I'd never seen a smile so plastic. She shot a glance of disgust towards Lauren, before flipping her hair and declaring imperiously, "Later."

* * *

I'd been getting stared at from the moment the first students had started arriving, curious eyes and whispers following me every step I took, and honestly, it was unsurprising. Most of the teenagers hadn't been in town when I'd gone exploring on the weekend, so it was the first time they'd seen me. I was prepared for this, and I made sure to carry myself in a way that let them know that I was not at all intimidated by their interest in me. Soon enough, it would be the other way round – _they_ would be intimidated by _me_.

Starting a new school was hard in the way that I had to start from scratch to develop a credible reputation, and with every other Senior looking to do the same thing, it would be harder. I knew teenagers, as much as I liked to distant myself from their stereotypical behaviors. New seniors always wanted to make the best of their last year, looking to carve a memorable place for themselves in the school's history. Jessica, was just one of _many_ of those kinds of students I would have to contend with.

There was just something about the game I just _loved_ ; all of us were just beginning our lives, just starting to develop independent thought, discover ourselves and figure things out for ourselves, and yet we thought we were so important, so smart, trying to act like the adults that we very much _weren't_. Someone like Bella thought she was mature, that she was above these little playground games and wouldn't ever 'lower' herself to our level, but though Forrest said I had a weird sort of separation and scorn for the age of my age mates, I didn't try to delude myself into thinking that I was any better than them. In fact, I was _worse_.

They didn't really know what they were doing, but I did. As arrogant as it sounded, they were simply going about their lives and following the whims of whatever pleased them at a particular moment. _Most_ people in general, no matter their age, tended to do that.

But me? Maybe it was my general disregard for life, or the fact that I was so mind numbingly _bored_ more than half the time, but it made me take _active_ pleasure in causing chaos, in shaking the table and revealing the bad side of even the kindest person. I couldn't content myself with staying out of the picture and going about my life quietly. I had to be in the mix of things –no. I had to be the _mixer_. It had landed me in quite a bit of sticky situations, but if you asked Forrest, that was _exactly_ why I did it.

TL;DR: I loved to start shit, and I could admit it.

But regardless of all of this, I had to admit that I hadn't received quite so many stares as when I walked into class, chatting happily with Lauren who trailed in behind me holding my books. Most of the class had already entered, as the third and final warning bell had rang while Lauren and I had been en route, so we were hit with the full weight of the students gazes on our person.

I didn't let it bother me, taking a free spot a row from the front, Lauren in tow.

We hadn't even been sitting five minutes before a jockish white boy grabbed a chair and straddled it, arms on the backrest. He had the American All-Star look, in a grey and red sports jersey with jeans and faded sneakers, all blond hair, blue eyes and a grin bright enough that I was reminded somehow of a golden retriever. Taking a seat on the accompanying desk was another boy, this time black, with hair shaved at the sides, dressed much the same; team jersey, jeans, and sneakers. I gathered they were both on the basketball team.

"So _you're_ the new girl, huh?" he asked, and beside me Lauren rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath, though no doubt it was uncomplimentary.

"It's nice to see another dark face around here. All this mayonnaise was starting to give me indigestion," the black boy behind him said, only to let out a laugh when the blond punched him in the gut.

"What mayonnaise?" Lauren asked, brows furrowed in confusion, and as one Tyler and I snorted, while Mike just rolled his eyes.

"I'm Mike, and the smartass behind me is Tyler," the blond, or well, _Mike_ introduced.

"Maude," I answered, giving Mike a subtle once over. Lauren had mentioned him in passing; he was Jessica's boyfriend, or well, on-and-off boyfriend. Judging the way he was eyeing me, I could only hope that for Jessica's sake, this was an 'off' period for them. But I could see how the two of them could gravitate to being a couple –what with one being (Ex) student body president and the other captain of the Basketball team. It was predictable.

"We all grew up around Bella when she'd come down to spend the summers here, though most times she typically stayed, but if you're Susan Swan's daughter, how come we've never seen you around?" Tyler asked, and I could tell that other people at the surrounding tables were listening.

I shrugged, "My mum hated Forks-"

"-Well _that's_ no secret-"a voice muttered, though I couldn't identify the speaker.

Pursing my lips, I carried on. "…My brother and I never really had any reason to come down here when Uncle Charlie and Bella would just come visit us," I finished.

"You're from Portland, right? I've been a couple times, it's wild," Mike said, smile growing wider. "It must be death for you to be here, huh? It is for us, and we're the natives," he joked, adding a laugh at the end.

Lauren pursed her lips, "God, I can't wait to get _out_ of here," she declared, and Tyler made a noise of agreement.

"One more year, and then _freedom_!" he exclaimed, and the rest of the class crowed in agreement.

It seemed that Bella wasn't alone in her disdain for her hometown, but honestly, I wasn't even surprised. Forks was just _dreary_.

"Bella tells me that you guys typically hang out in Port Angeles, right? Meaning it must be interesting there, at least?" I asked.

Lauren made a noncommittal sound, "It's not like, as great as say Seattle, but its loads better than this place. At least you can go shopping," she said, making Tyler scoff.

"Don't listen to cloth-for-brains here, there's more than just boutiques in Port Angeles, though she's right, it's not exactly a 'big city'," he stressed.

Big city or not, if it at least had a population with life, I was more than ready to check it out.

The teacher walked in at that moment, a heavy set white man with a loose tie and a cup of coffee clutched tightly in his hands. He slammed his bag on the teacher's desk and stared at us with bags under his eyes and what I assumed was despair at having to deal with a class of rowdy teenagers. "Alright now, settle down guys so we can get this over with," he sighed.

The rest of the class did as told, albeit with a few grumbles of displeasure, but Mike was still smiling at me. Tilting his head, he said, "If you're interested in going, I can show you around, if you like?"

Seems that it really was an 'off' period for him and Jess.

I gave a hum, neither agreeable nor specifically dissuading. "Maybe. I'll give it a thought," I said with shrug.

He didn't seem disappointed; instead he _winked_ , before turning around to face the board.

Forks High didn't have much going for it, but I could at like this was shaping up to be a lot more interesting than I'd thought.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi all and happy Sunday! I'm actually surprised I managed to get this chapter out, and yet here it is, and it's pretty great if I do say so myself. Toot toot!**

 **More canon characters, including the ones I'm sure you guys have been waiting for, though this story is of course AU, what with it being centered around Maude, so don't expect what you already know from canon. Still, I hope you guys like where its going, even though we're still in the beginning!**

 **Thanks so much for all who dropped a comment! I love hearing everyone's thoughts and what they think about this, especially since it's a little different than my usual OC centric fics. So don't hesitate!**

 **January fans? Wow. Just bare with me a little, like a littttttle while longer, I know I'm unreliable snsjksks but please? Just a little while!**

 **Thanks so much again to everyone reading this, and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

 **Review?**

 **:)**

* * *

There was something about the town of Forks that didn't so much as appeal to me, as it _intrigued_ me. The whole town was like something out of a grunge tumble aesthetic post; cold skies and green things, dew dipped surfaces and hot cups of tea by a log fire, mountains, rivers –it was all so _picturesque_.

But it also seemed to me like a horror movie waiting to happen.

That first morning at Forks high, as I roamed the empty hallways before the other students had started to arrive, and then later ventured out behind the cafeteria to see the hulking forest that dominated the scenery, I was reminded starkly of the 2000s genre horror genre, of high school students in remote towns venturing into the woods on camping quests, and then never coming back out. Sometimes it was the cause of some scary monster hidden in the dark and previously thought to be a fictional folk story, sometimes it was the cause of one of their companions losing it and deciding to murder everyone, regardless I couldn't help but feel like Forks high and the woods that surrounded it were sort of doomed to the same fate.

Don't get me wrong, I _loved_ it, really I did. It was something fresh, something I hadn't seen before, and even though the town itself was blander than flour, I could appreciate the nature that surrounded it. I was more of a socio-political documentary myself, but when I did venture into fictional films, I always made sure that it had something _more_ to it, be it the story line or just the setting. And I felt like Forks could give me that.

As I spent the morning listening with half an ear to Lauren's chattering, I also observed the students around. They weren't all that interesting, in and of themselves, indeed they were more boring than the usual with the way they just kind of, conformed –girlies and boys all dressed in the same style, acting the same, writing with the same flat script that was nothing at all like my messy chicken scratch cursive-, but I couldn't begrudge them that, because that was adolescence for you. The need to fit in was sometimes overwhelming, and for a town as small as Forks, being anything less than the standard would get you ostracized.

So I could understand, theoretically. In practice -not really. Portland was an art filled city, gentrified and hipsterish to the _nines_ , and people there took _pride_ in being outside of the status quo, which made me view Forks in such a dull light.

Still, I watched these kids and planned how I'd shatter the painstakingly established social hierarchy that had been established even generations before these current kids had even stepped foot in Forks. It seemed that family name meant something here, so people like Lauren, Mike, and Jessica were already guaranteed top spots as soon as they'd started school, and someone like Tyler, who's family had _also_ been around for generations, and had been 'friends' with the Newtons for all of that time, had to work just a little bit harder to maintain their spots.

There were other kids of color who ran in the popular crowds, though not many. Lauren had introduced me to Ben, a boy of Filipino descent with a smile that lit up his whole face who was in the Math League, Eric, who was East-Asian and was the editor of the school newspaper (though _what_ news Forks high had to break, I had no idea), and Eun-Ha, a first gen Korean girl who went by her surname Lee, because apparently no one could pronounce her first name, which I thought was nonsense, and hadn't hesitated to tell her so.

I liked her best of all of Lauren's crowed I'd met so far; she was the kind of bookish snob that used big words and insulted you so subtly that you wouldn't even realize it until hours later (I'd choked when she'd told Lauren her gloss was so sparkly it was blinding, but Lauren had simply preened and taken it as a compliment). Not to mention that her hair was so thick and her lips so peach that all I could do was sigh longingly at her the whole class period of chem that we shared.

But even despite how lovely she was, her hair was still ironed pin straight, and she was still dressed in the pretty pastels I was quickly starting to hate, and the boys were all dressed like they'd just stepped out of a teen fashion catalogue.

I could just _see_ the camping massacre waiting to happen.

By the time lunch rolled around, Eun-Ha and Lauren were obediently walking two steps behind me, listening as I oh so generously explained what Ms Mendeliev had been droning on about in class. Though I didn't tend to focus much on conventional academia, I still scored in the higher levels, and if there was one thing to be learned in my school career, if you had a little brain behind your beauty, people would flock to you much faster than otherwise.

It was also a great psychological tool to use, playing on people's intelligence. Eun-Ha was smart enough on her own, and thus was able to contribute her own thoughts on the lesson, but _Lauren_ –I was able to hype her up and encourage her, until I just didn't, and then I could shoot her down again. It would keep her by my side happily, hungry for the validation from the pretty, smart new girl, but she would also subconsciously realize that she wasn't my _peer_.

Unlike what movies depicted, people weren't dumb enough to stand being insulted constantly, that was a sure fire way to alienate them from your company, and that _wasn't_ what I wanted, no matter how dull I thought everyone was. High school wasn't fun when you had to go it alone. And anyway, it was _fun_.

"Maude! Hey, come on!" Mike's voice called loudly when we entered the lunch hall. His table was right smack in the middle, already occupied by Tyler, Eric and Ben, as well as some other familiar faces Lauren had deigned to speak with during the morning.

I took in the room with a smile of anticipation because this was what I loved –the school cafeteria was the epicenter of the high school experience. A more ignorant person would think it was just a place to eat, to take a break between classes, but it was so much more than that. Your table and how close you were to the centre dictated just how relevant you were, just how close to the Top you were.

Already I could see clear cliques made out in the crowd; there were the music kids, evident by the musical instruments piled atop their table and almost covering their food trays in the process, there were the geeks, waving and pointing viciously on their textbooks at each other, the art club, dressed in a mishmash of colors with pencils and paint splotches on them –now able to make out such clear distinctions, it seemed like Forks was a little more varied than I'd first assumed it to be.

I took in the way they stared at Lauren and Eun-Ha behind me, with stars in their eyes, and me with an incredulousness that _screamed_ their confusion, but I only pasted on my best smile and confidently made my way to where Mike was waving.

"Hey you," I greeted, taking in the seat in the chair that he'd pulled out for me. The raised brows and wide eyes I got for doing so implied something that I couldn't understand, but no doubt meant a lot in the grand scheme of things.

Lauren was on my right, Tyler on Mike's left, and Eun-Ha took a seat next to the Ben, the two quickly dissolving into a discussion about something work related.

"So, how's your morning been? Feeling like a Wolf yet?" he asked, bright grin. The Wolves were the school's mascot, and displayed proudly on the backs of the sports jerseys Mike and some of the other boys were wearing.

"I'm not into the furry lifestyle, sorry," I said, to which Tyler choked out a laugh, hurriedly putting his hand to his mouth to avoid milk from spewing out of his mouth.

Lauren stood up, murmuring about going to get something from the lunch menu, and I caught her wrist with a bright smile. "Get me a yogurt and apple please, with a bottle of water?" I asked sweetly, and she smiled.

"Sure, Maude!" she exclaimed, before turning around go.

Mike watched her with raised eyebrows, whistling lowly under his breath. "Wow, not often I see Laura willing to do something for anyone other than herself –or well, Jess I guess. What did you do to get her so chummy with you?"

I laughed disarmingly. "What? Lauren's been nothing but nice to me the whole morning, I don't get what you mean?"

Eric snorted, "Oh _sure_ ," he said from above the notebook he was working in.

Before I could answer, pleading my false innocence again, a shadow fell over the table, and everyone looked up.

"Maude, I didn't think I'd see you here so fast!" A familiar voice declared. It was coming from behind, prompting me to twist in order to see who it was. I was only a little surprised to see Jessica, standing with yet _another_ blonde flanking her. Despite the smile on her face, she was staring down at me with narrowed eyes.

And with the way everyone else's eyes were flickering between her and me, it seemed almost like…

Well it seemed like I'd unwittingly taken her seat.

"Jessica!" I called brightly, grasping her hand gently with a smile. "Ugh, it's so good to see another familiar face, come sit with me! And who's this?" I asked, staring back at the girl behind her who was glaring daggers at me.

I didn't give Jessica a chance to protest or do much of anything, pulling her closer to the table to perch in Lauren's chair. "This is Samantha," Jessica introduced, sitting with clear reluctance and depositing her lunch tray with such force that the food jostled, though her eyes were more on Mike than on me. The others were still watching this, Mike beside me a suspiciously shrinking figure compared to his behavior before.

"Hi Samantha," I greeted, looking at her with a bright smile.

Samantha pretended she didn't hear, typing away at her phone.

"How were your morning classes, Jess? I hear you're one of the top students, and that loads of girls here look up to you," I said, to which Jessica simply sniffed, opening her bottle of apple juice without a glance at me.

"Well, it's not easy, but I try," she said demurely.

"Really? I find the curriculum here is _miles_ easier than what I'm used to, it's almost a breeze. But also I can understand that it can be challenging, if it's what you're used to," I said in a hushed voiced so that only she could hear me. Jessica spluttered, but I ignored her in favor of turning to Lauren who had just arrived, and much to my surprise, my cousin and another dark haired girl were in tow.

"Bella?" I asked, and I couldn't quite hide the surprise in my voice because of all the tables I'd expected my cousin to hang out at, it certainly hadn't been _this_ one.

"Hi Maude," she greeted with a relieved smile. Knowing her, she'd probably been worrying over me the whole morning, wondering if I was okay.

"Mike, can you let Bella sit by me?" I asked him. He looked like he wanted to say something, but coupled with Jessica's glare and my expectant look, he relented. Actually, he seemed almost _happy_. "Oh, uh yeah, Tyler and I have to get going anyway, so it's cool," he said, hurriedly getting up.

Tyler, who'd been talking with Eric looked up in confusion, "We do?" he asked, but Mike just grabbed his bicep and pulled him up.

"Yeah, we do. See you guys later," he said, before hightailing it out of there. I couldn't help my snort of amusement, even when Jessica redirected her glare at me.

Lauren didn't utter a word of protest when she saw Jessica in her chair, I guessed her feelings of subservience to the girl hadn't quite dispersed, instead, she gave me my food with a nervous smile, eyes shooting back and forth between me and the other girl, before taking a seat next to Eun-Ha, leaving Bella to sit beside me, and the other girl to sit next to her. I thanked her with a bright smile nonetheless, and the tension between her and Jess became palpable.

"This is my cousin, Maude," Bella said to the girl next to her. She was a mousy thing, pale skinned but with Latino features, big pretty brown eyes hid behind even bigger glasses. Her smile to me was kind, but hesitant, and while I could understand how she and Bella were friends, it left me even more confused as to how the two girls had come into this circle.

"I'm Angela, it's nice to meet you," she said, and I reached out to shake her hand.

"You too, Angela, I hope we can become fast friends," I said. Angela seemed delighted, but Bella _knew_ me, and she watched me with suspicious eyes.

That was fine; it was unlikely she'd call me out on anything unless I was being explicitly mean.

"Bella, I didn't think we'd be seeing you so soon after what happened this summer," Jessica said pointedly.

Bella's expression immediately turned to stone, and I recognized it as the one she always used when she didn't want to reveal anything beyond what she said. "I'm doing well, thank you for your concern, Jess."

Lauren tittered nastily, and I couldn't hide my confusion. "Did something happen?" I asked,

"Nothing-"

"-Bella was mauled by a bear, and broke her leg. It was pretty serious," Eun-Ha said, ignoring the hard look my cousin shot her because of her interruption.

"A _bear_?" I asked in disbelief.

"Apparently she was out hiking when it happened," Samantha sneered.

I looked at Bella, not even bothering to hide how sus this whole thing sounded. I couldn't imagine Bella going out in Nature voluntarily, indeed anytime Forrest and I had proposed she go hiking with us, she'd been vocal about her disdain for the activity, and had preferred to stay home with my mother. The fact that she'd gone deep enough to encounter any wildlife was wild to me.

She shot me a look to _drop it_ , and I did, but I would be having words with her later to find out the full story.

And then the cafeteria doors opened.

The statement, nor the actions, didn't warrant the drama accompanied by those words, and yet it existed nonetheless.

It was like a collective hush had descended upon the lunch hall –not that the place had become silent by any stretch of the word, but as if _everyone's_ attention had been split in half between the conversations they were immersed in, and the new arrivals.

But it was Bella stiffening next to me that _really_ got me to look up and see what the cause was, because it was rare that anyone could elicit even such a small reaction from my typically even tempered cousin.

And yet, even when I looked, I couldn't understand what had caused it.

The three people were, well, to put it bluntly, otherworldly, and I meant that in the most literal sense. Their beauty was something that seemed like it belonged more in Ancient Mythology than in real life, the cause of wars between Gods and Mortals alike, causalities spanning the hundreds of thousands and creating songs and poetry that weathered through Ages. I couldn't understand how they could possibly be _real;_ how they could possible exist out of the realms of imagination and in this backwater town instead. If anything, people like this were the kind I'd expect to find on the big screen, in dramatic roles that won them Oscars and standing ovations at Cannes.

Instead they were _here_.

Two boys that would give both Apollo and Adonis a run for their money and a little dark haired angel skipping between them. The two boys were talking, with the girl laughing between them, and none glanced at any of us gawking students on the way to their table.

There's was a little away from ours, a little further inwards and away from the glass doors, but I suddenly, starkly realized that _they_ were the _true_ rulers of Forks High.

"Bella, tell me, who are _they_?" I asked, the shock probably evident in my tone. But Bella, my dear Bella who had a weakness for beautiful and ethereal things, who thrived in drowning herself in the classics about handsome, mysterious love interests –she only looked. Well not quite afraid, but, she looked _wary_.

"Those are the Cullen kids," Eric answered instead, sounding a little star struck himself.

"Honestly we haven't seen them all summer and it's like they've gotten more unfairly gorgeous," Samantha said, and even Eun-Ha seemed to be taken.

I looked around the table, at the whole cafeteria in general and how _everyone_ seemed to be caught in a spell because of these three, and honestly, if it weren't for Bella's expression grounding me, I probably would've been trapped like everyone else.

Just _what_ had they done to my cousin?

The girl, waved at Bella with a bright smile. She was the only other girl in the whole school who sported short hair, though hers was more of a pixie feminine than my boyish cut that curled slightly behind my ears (a result of my naturally kinky hair that I couldn't _quite_ hide, no matter how much I tried to straighten it), and her hair was dark where mine was light. The two boys didn't even bother to glance over, even when Bella gave a hesitant nod back.

"Bella?" I whispered, shifting closer to her.

My cousin just sighed before answering. "They're the kids of Dr Cullen who's runs the hospital, they moved here a few years before I did, and you _know_ how small this town is, everyone's grandma grew up together, so they're still considered new," she said, eyes focusing on her untouched tray of food.

I stared at her, unable to believe that she was trying to feed me such a lackluster explanation, but before I could investigate further, Jessica jumped in.

"Bella, why did Alice Cullen just wave to you?" she asked, voice hard, and everyone else at our table was now staring at my cousin.

"Yeah, I didn't know you two knew each other," Ben added.

Bella looked like a cornered mouse, and I reached under the table to give her hand a squeeze. I didn't know what the hell was going on, but I was the only one allowed to _ever_ back my cousin into a corner.

Which, okay, that probably didn't sound all that great, but point was that she needed support and I'd give it to her.

"Um, we met at the beginning of the summer before they went on vacation, but it's not like we're friends or anything," she added that last part hurriedly at the end, trying to dissuade more questions.

It seemed to work, judging by how Eun-Ha nodded. "They're not friends with _anyone_ ," she said, making the other people at the table murmur agreeably.

I glanced back at them, how they seemed to be existing in their own little bubble, talking amongst each other as if no one else was around. I could see what Eun-Ha meant.

But _Gods_ they were beautiful.

I wanted to find out more, to dig in deeper into this unexpected gift that had suddenly presented itself, but the bell rang suddenly, signaling the end of lunch, and Bella was dragging me up by the elbow with a strength I didn't know she had.

"Come on, Maude, we better go or else we'll be late," my cousin said, pushing me forward and _away_ from their direction.

"Wait, Bella, what? But it's only the first bell-?"

"No, no, but it's still your first day and you can't be late to _anything_ ," she said, pulling me along more forcefully, even when I tried to dig my feet in.

I tried to look behind me, but students were starting to disperse, blocking my view. " _Bella_ ," I huffed, because I couldn't understand. What was going on in her head that was causing her to act like this? Was it really the presence of these Cullens that was sending her like this? But the dark haired girl had seemed _nice_.

" _Let's go,_ " Bella said, and there was steel in her voice that I'd heard very few times before.

When I tried to look back, to spot one last glimpse of these people who had sent my calm cousin into such a fuss, I caught one of the boys watching us go; the one with rust colored hair and a classic Golden age kind of handsomeness to his face. I couldn't see the color of his eyes, but his expression was blank and unreadable, and it didn't change even when I _knew_ he noticed me looking. He held my gaze with that uniform expression, neither looking angry or particularly moved. Still, it did nothing to diminish his looks, only made him look like a work of renaissance art in pose.

I couldn't look away, even when this disconcerting feeling threatened to overwhelm me. For a long moment time seemed to slow down, existing only in the movements of the people around us, as if he were so disconnected from the rest of humanity that the laws that governed us didn't apply to him. Students stood and started to head out of the cafeteria, movement and color filling our surroundings, but it barely seemed to touch the strange trio's table, like it warping and twisting around them. It was eerie.

And then Bella got me out of there with one last shove, and the moment was over.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello all! So sorry for the delay with this chapter, a lot has happened irl since my last posting, and while I had the majority of it written for a little bit, I hadn't found time to finish it until now. I know this is an odd posting, since it's the middle of the week, but I thought waiting until the weekend wouldn't be fair, especially with the wait. I'll try to get back to the usual update schedule!**

 **I hope this chapter was worth the wait! And if Edward seems strange, I'd like to think it's because he's more relaxed and not desperate to suck Maude dry like he was with Bella. I think we'll finally,** _ **finally**_ **be getting into the main plotpoint of this story next chapter, which haha, it only took five chapters? Sorry.**

 **I'm really happy at the response this fic has been getting! It's great to hear that you guys are so receptive, especially with Maude's very critical opinions of everything! Thank you guys so much!**

 **I'd love to hear more of your thoughts, they make me so happy, so don't be afraid to make them known, okay?**

 **Review?**

 **:)**

* * *

A common misconception that people had about my cousin was that she was weak; that her shy personality, vehement dislike of attention, and tendency to stay quiet in most situations translated to a feeble interior that would be more than likely to shatter under the slightest provocation.

They were wrong.

I couldn't blame them, of course. It was hard _not_ to underestimate her, when she was just barely pushing 5'4 and looked more anemic than a thousand year old vampire. She didn't exactly _stand out_ in a crowd, and on the rare occasions one managed to lure her out of her self-imposed bubble, it was even hard to hold a serious conversation with her. She always looked minutes from bolting into the ether at the smallest sign of direct confrontation –that, or she ignored you so hard that you started to doubt your own existence.

But it was through my own mistaken impressions of her that I was able to learn the truth:

Bella was one of _the most_ hardcore people I'd ever met in my life, and that was saying something, considering my love of provoking conflict in already heated situations. Isabella Swan may have seemed fragile under her porcelain fine exterior, but inside lay a girl with an almost scary sort of determination. Once she got something into her head, it would take nothing less than divine intervention to get her to let go of it. That, coupled with her default facial expression of blankness that revealed _nothing_ unless she wanted it to and her dangerous penchant for passive aggression as a means of retaliation, made for the kind of person that shouldn't be provoked unless one was willing to risk their life.

(Read: One time when were eleven we got into a fight because I was _admittedly_ jealous over her neater penmanship, and thus scribbled all over her personal diary out of pettiness. She didn't even shed a tear, nor show any sign to show that she was affected, when I knew that she periodically poured her heart and soul into those pages. It had discomforted me, but I'd gotten complacent when she didn't confront me, nor go to my parents to get me in trouble, and a week passed in an odd sort of calm, until, _until_ one day I decided to hunker down in front of the fire with my favorite book, my pride and joy, an anniversary addition _personally_ signed by the author, only to find that she had meticulously scribbled out every _second_ sentence with a black marker, leaving me with a ruined and smudged copy. _Where_ she'd even found the time to do that to a book of _three-hundred_ and something pages in under a week, I did not know, but her placid smile and blank eyes in the face of my boiling rage had chilled me to the bone, and continued to stay with me to this day. It was a face I remembered well any time I even so much as _thought_ of touching her things again. )

I liked to think that I knew her pretty well -or as best as anyone could, since she didn't tend to reveal anything about herself unless it was under the literal threat of death- so I was mostly used to reading the emotions hidden beneath her Resting Bitch Face, and her silent gestures and twists of her mouth to gauge what exactly she was trying to say without actually saying it, and I also liked to think that she was able to do the same with me. For all that we would only be in direct contact once or twice a year, we understood each other, in a way not many other people did. The fact that we couldn't be more different than night and day, made it even stranger. Because though we didn't exact _like_ each other, we did _know_ each other.

This made her behavior all that much weirder, because I'd never known Bella to suddenly up and grab people and drag them away for no reason.

And the key words there being "no reason".

"Bella," I called, trying in vain to plant my feet into the ground and halt her hurried footsteps, but I was ignored. She'd successfully manage to drag me to a whole other building, even with me actively struggling to pull away, and as I eyed her arms, hidden underneath a long sleeve a size too large for her, I was forced to reassess my usual impression of 'scrawny'.

The hallways were busy with everyone in a hurry to get to their next class, but even still, the crowds did nothing to deter her. Just what had caused this sudden behavior?

"Bella!" I yanked my hand away forcefully, and it was with relief that I brought my arm close to my chest to try massage my blood into circulating once more. "Just _what_ is your problem?" I demanded.

She turned to me, her mouth pressed so tightly closed that it was no more than a line, her eyes roaming the throngs of students weaving around us as if there was something…

She stared me straight in the eyes as she replied, "Nothing. I just didn't want you to be late for class. You have History now, right?" she asked, but it wasn't really a question.

I realized belatedly that she'd managed to drag me all the way to D building without my noticing, which was all the way across campus from the cafeteria and honestly, what the fuck?

I eyed her suspiciously. "How did you know that?"

All I got was a vague shrug in return, which actually meant: "I have your entire schedule memorized, which will allow me to know your exact whereabouts at any given moment, and be able to lecture you more effectively should you fail to show up to any of your classes.", and _God_ , it was such a Bella thing to do that I wasn't even shocked.

Her eyes did a once over on our surroundings one last time, before she seemed satisfied. "I'd better get going, I've got Calc and-"

"Was it something they said?" I cut in, and she blinked.

"…Who said?" she asked with a frown, the confusion in her tone genuine, and I hurried to clarify.

"Jessica and them, back during lunch."

I saw how her she twisted her hands together in front of her, and how she kept eye contact between the two of us. "Oh, yeah, but it's not, like, a big deal," she said, and I pasted on a smile.

"But you guys are friends, right?" I asked, to which she did this thing that was a mix between a cringe and a smile.

"Yeah, I guess. But they can get a bit overwhelming, sometimes," she said. The third and final bell rang then, and most everyone had cleared out. Bella and I would be late to class at this rate, but I wasn't quite done.

"I can understand. It was also insensitive of them to bring up your accident like that when you clearly didn't want to mention it –though, I have to admit, I'm actually really hurt. You almost _died_ , getting mauled by a bear is no joke, why didn't you tell me?" I made sure that my voice conveyed all the sentiment I wasn't feeling inside, and was rewarded when a flash of guilt washed over her face, even as she held my gaze.

"It really wasn't _that_ bad. I didn't think it was important to go calling everyone to let them know and make a big deal out of it," she told me, and then, "Anyway, I've gotta go. I'm in the next building over, and I'm already late as it is. But I'll come pick you up later, okay?" she proposed, moving to walk away.

"Ah, no worries, sis. I'll probably be a little late coming home anyway, so don't wait up, okay?"

She looked unsure, but we were also really, _really_ late, and she didn't have the time to fight me on it, so all she could do was give me a hesitant nod, before she hurried on her way.

I watched her go until she disappeared from sight, before I let my smile slip off my face.

My dear cousin, Bella was lying to me. About what exactly, I wasn't sure, but I did know that her sudden urge to flee from the cafeteria hadn't been caused only by what Eun-Ha had revealed, indeed, I had a feeling that my cousin hadn't been victim of a bear attack _at all_. The signs would have been starkly visible on her, but from days spent in close proximity with her, I knew that she still held her (unfairly) unblemished soft skin, with not even one scar that could be attributed to sharp bear claws.

I had a feeling it had something to do with those three siblings that had walked in, the Cullens, I think they were? The black haired girl had seemed bubbly and nice, waving with my cousin with genuine happiness, but admittedly her brothers seemed cold, at best. Had something happened between them?

Bella's behavior was all kinds of strange, but also, I had to ask myself, was it really _that_ deep for me to actively try and figure out _why_ she was lying? She had her reasons, and if she wanted to lie to her so-called friends, then it wasn't exactly my business was it? Bella never out of her way to do anything maliciously, and she generally had morally sound reasoning for the actions she took, which was much more than _I_ could say.

I sighed, twisting the Silver bracelet on my wrist, a habit I fell to when I was feeling frustrated.

It was something my dad had made for the whole family a few years back, when he'd come back from a trip to Mali. His had my mother's name on it, and hers his, and mine had Forrest's, and his mine. They were beautifully done, with designs laid onto the metal, and most families had complimentary jewelry done. The bracelet was a source of comfort to me, and in moments like these in which I was more than a little frustrated, it calmed me down enough to rationalize my way through a problem.

Had Père been here with me, a witness to his niece's weird behavior, he would have just laughed about it and told me to let it go.

 _Ce n'est pas aussi serieuse_ , he'd say, bright grin and all.

But Bella wasn't one to act out of the norm, and her behavior gave me cause to suspect that maybe it _really was_ that serious.

* * *

If it was the Cullens my cousin was trying to shield me from, then it was with regret that I could only say she'd failed. Which, in retrospect, was bound to happen, sooner rather than later even. Forks High was a small school, and the Senior population wasn't that big either; everyone shared at least one class with someone they knew.

Bella had failed because, as I entered the classroom with a bashful smile and an excuse on my tongue that would be hopefully be enough to charm the professor, I realized with no little amount of irony, that the only seat still available was the one next to the auburn haired Cullen, and wasn't _that_ just something?

The teacher, an excitable Mr. Romaine, didn't even let me open my mouth to apologize for interrupting his lecture, shooing me down the aisle with a bright grin that showed just how unbothered he was about my tardy. I had to admit that I was genuinely remorseful –it wouldn't do to be labeled disrespectful on my very first day. I prided myself on proper comportment when it came down to it. Being on the teacher's good side meant that even if you did get in trouble, they'd be much more lenient with you than had you been an annoying little shit the whole duration of the school year.

Still, it was what it was, and I couldn't exactly say I was mad at not getting disciplined in front of the whole class, so it was with an apologetic smile that I made my way down to the aforementioned seat.

It was a little more to the back that I would've typically chosen for myself, and the stares followed me all the way, the other students unabashed in their even as the professor continued on with his introductory speech that would set the curriculum for the rest of the school year.

My desk buddy didn't look moved by my newfound presence next to him, giving me nary more than a glance before refocusing his gaze outside the window, and ignoring the teacher completely. I slid into my chair without a word, offering no more acknowledgement than he did me.

It seemed our little cafeteria 'moment' hadn't meant anything to him. This, admittedly enough, relieved me more than anything. Bella wouldn't say it, but I knew that her panicked behavior from earlier had been a result of something related to him and his family, though I didn't know what. It had been evident in the way she'd looked when Jessica had confronted her over….Alison (I think that was the girl's name?) waving at her. The way the whole table had looked at my cousin in wait of an explanation showed how out of the norm it was for such a thing to happen, even if it was something as regular as a greeting.

Maybe the Cullens didn't tend to hang out with the rest of the school, but Bella's reaction was just weird. If it were a normal circumstance, she would have _blushed_ , because that's what Bella did whenever she was faced with much more attention than she was used to. But I hadn't even seen a hint of red on her face, instead she'd seemed paler than normal, panicked and uncomfortable.

I _was_ a little curious, but I'd have to interrogate my cousin some more before I could decide if I should actively try and talk to the siblings, or mind my business all together. I trusted Bella, for all our differences, and if she really convinced me they were no good, then I'd heed her warning.

The boy was _handsome_ though, even more so up close, with his old-school good looks and well put together outfit –far cry from the rest of the school's male population who I saw were all wearing some variant of a teen style magazine look. He stared out the window with his jaw resting on his upturned palm, a careful aura of supercilious disinterest blocking everyone out. I had to bite down a smile of amusement, because the first day of the school year hadn't even finished, and he already looked entirely _Done_ with everything and everyone, and honestly? Same.

But I was grateful he hadn't said a word to me, because I couldn't even look at him from the corner of my eyes without being overwhelmed.

How unfair it was, that someone like him was hidden in this backwater town.

I spotted Ben and Samantha sitting together up front, both shooting glances at me and whispering to each other intermittently. Samantha's looks were particularly dirty when her eyes landed on me, and I huffed, focusing instead on opening my new notebook to take down the syllabus that had been written on the board. I wrinkled my nose in distaste as I took in what we'd be spending the year learning –all biased information to paint our country's atrocities in a better light than they were actually done in.

I paused in my copying to page through the assigned textbook with a grimace; this was indeed a Government Approved™ piece of learning material that would teach us exactly nothing. A picture of a black worker dressed smartly and smiling with a white man on a plantation had me shutting the book in resignation, a throbbing headache steadily making itself known.

I didn't know why I was surprised; Forks was an old town, of course they were still using these. My old school in Portland was much more progressive, and while they weren't as left-wing as _I_ was, our history classes _did_ acknowledge… _oh I don't know…_ Segregation.

Poor Mr. Romaine. His jovial smile wouldn't last long when I was around.

Beside me, my desk partner coughed.

Resigning myself to having to deal with it lest I fail my final year and not graduate, I comforted myself by writing snide comments in the margins to keep my frustration alive, in case I ever forgot how much I hated this class. Kennedy? An opportunistic hypocrite. The Cold War? Petty.

"I don't think Mr Romaine would appreciate you calling the Cold War ' _petty'_ ," a voice said from next to me, and so taken aback was I that it took me a few seconds to realize that it was my desk partner who had spoken.

I turned to see him looking down at my textbook, jaw still resting on his upturned palm, and though his whole countenance still screamed boredom, I could see the glimmer of curiosity in his tawny eyes. A unique eye shade for a unique kind of person, I thought.

"I don't think Mr Romaine would appreciate _anything_ I had to say about his lesson plans," I answered, to which my desk partner hummed vaguely in agreement.

"I can see that," he said, and this time I heard the amusement in his tone. "Is this a thing you do, then? Attend classes while critiquing the professor's curriculum?" he asked.

"You don't?" I asked, but he ignored my unsubtle sarcasm with an elegant shrug.

"Not usually, no. I typically keep my comments to myself," he replied, and I squinted at him.

"So why aren't you now?"

This startled a sound of amusement out of him, and this time he looked directly at me.

"Ennui, mostly," he answered after a moment, and yeah, okay, that was a good enough answer in my book. I'd been sufficiently disillusioned with the class that everything Mr Romaine was saying sounded like mindless nonsense in my ears. If this guy couldn't stomach it either, then I couldn't actually fault him.

"You know, introducing yourself would be the polite thing to do before you start commenting on my classroom habits," I said, and I _shouldn'_ t have been talking to him. I'd taken the resolution _not_ to just a few minutes back, to listen to Bella and stay in my corner, and yet, here I was.

"So I can comment on them _after_?"

I spared a glance at the teacher, who was pointing at key vocabulary terms that we'd need to know; some among others included _propaganda, occupation,_ and _coup d'etat,_ and sighed wearily.

Here we were, a class of seniors, and 'propaganda' was still a word that needed outlining.

Picking up my pen, I answered, "Sure." because class was more than halfway through and I still had way too much space left in the margins.

"Alright," he said. "I'm Edward, thank you for allowing me to remark upon your scathing commentary in the margins," he said, and I had to bite down on my smile.

"You don't have any scathing commentary of your own? Or do you agree with the textbook?" I asked, and for all that I phrased it lightly, I was perfectly willing to ignore him for the rest of the year should he agree with my latter option –never mind the fact that ignoring him until further notice was something I _should've_ been doing regardless.

I ignored the image of Bella glaring with disapproval that floated up in my mind. It wasn't exactly _my_ fault –he'd spoken to me, and I couldn't be _rude_ on no basis.

"I don't agree with the textbook," he declared plainly, and then, "Won't you tell me you name?"

Ben was giving me a strange looks from across the room, eyes flicking between Edward and I with a shocked sort of wonder. Was talking with these siblings that big of a deal? So far they didn't seem that aloof; Alison (I think?) had waved at Bella with a smile, and here her brother was talking to me of his own volition –granted he'd admitted that it was mostly because he was bored, but I'm sure they spoke to other people sometimes, didn't they?

I put the thought aside for later when I would ask my cousin for more details. No way could the Cullens be _that_ antisocial. "Maude," I answered, and I'd probably been quiet much longer than necessary. "Though whether you agree with the textbook or not, shouldn't you be taking notes?" I asked, gesturing to the board with my pen. Mr Romaine had already started erasing some things to make room for more, and this was a lot more writing than I expected for an introductory session.

Edward flipped open his previously abandoned notebook to reveal that he'd already taken down the year's lesson plan, everything written down in a neat cursive that bordered on calligraphy, nothing like my own rushed handwriting. I saw he'd summarized everything until it was clear cut and precise, and not at all like what had been written by the teacher.

"Everything else is negligible," he said, closing it again.

" _You actually know what propaganda means?"_ I breathed with an exaggerated amount of shock.

"Fox taught me," he said mildly and I had to hurry to hide my surprised laugh behind my palms, because I hadn't expected that _at all._

"The broadcaster of our nation," I wheezed, trying to calm down before the teacher noticed. The other students certainly had, judging by their wide eyes.

"Indeed," he answered in a dry sort of voice. The bell rang then, signaling the end of class, _and had it really gone by that fast?_ Granted, I'd been more than a few minutes late but it seemed that we'd barely been there at all.

"It was nice to meet you, Maude," Edward said with a nod, things already gathered, and then he was striding out of class before I could say anything back at all.

As I belatedly gathered my own things, I went over our interaction again in my mind, frowning when I could find nothing wrong with it _or_ him. Our interaction hadn't been long, little more than a few sentences had been exchanged between us at all, but _still_. What was it that had sent Bella into such a panic? Or had I been wrong this whole time, wrong in my guess that it had been about the Cullens at all?

No, I thought, smiling at Ben who joined me on my way out, already launching into an array of questions about what had happened during the class.

I'd seen the look in my cousin's eyes when Jessica had started to interrogate her, and how her eyes had briefly flickered to their table. It _was_ the Cullens, that had sent her into a tizzy, but for what, I couldn't understand, especially when Edward and his sister weren't as cold as I'd been led to believe.

Curious, I thought, because okay, it wasn't _that_ deep, really. If Bella didn't like the Cullens then that was that, and she hadn't explicitly told me to stay away from them either. But I knew very well that she wouldn't approve of me talking with them either, and though she wasn't my _mother_ (who I didn't listen to in the first place), Bella never disliked a person for no reason.

 _So what was her reason?_


	6. Chapter 6

**Eyyyyy B)**

 **Short Chapter, but at least it's here right? Ha.**

 **Thanks so much to everyone who continued to read and leave kind messages to this even during my absence. A lot has happened to me since I last updated, and I admit I've been suffering a hard bout of writers block. This is the first original thing I've written in _months,_ and though I'm not entirely satisfied with it, I decided I have to start again somewhere!**

 **Nonetheless, I hope you all enjoy this, or at least aren't too disappointed. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things, I hope to update my other fics soon as well, but no promises, because I realise my promises always end up broken, lol.**

 **As always, I love you all so much, thank you thank thank you for always being there!**

 **Review?**

 **:)**

* * *

My encounter with the mysterious Edward Cullen stayed with me far passed the end of the school day. It wasn't so much _him_ , more the whole atmosphere that surrounded him and his siblings. It ran more than simple good looks and popularity, and more along the lines of being held as a separate entity –body- entirely by the entirety of Forks high. I saw how they were received during their entrance in the cafeteria, how Samantha had gawked at me upon spying me speaking to one of them. This was only my first day and yet I could tell the Cullens didn't often deign to interact with everyone else, or rather, no one dared try interacting with _them_.

I could understand it to a point –Class games in school tended to be like that, everyone sticking to their own circles or allotted spot on the ladder, not venturing outside, but in this case it seemed a little more extreme than usual. There was the awe and appreciation teens always fell to when glimpsing others they admired, but also, as extreme as it might sound, there was a subtle worship to the dynamic as well. You could marvel, you could envy, but you could never think to compare yourself to the same level. It was a fearful sort of respect, like they were some kind of Godly sight that you didn't dare stare directly or too long at, before you started to trespass into sacrilegious zones.

I shared another class with one of them, the boy with golden spun hair. He sat closest to the door, and looked like he wasn't even in the same world as the rest of us. His bubble was thick and impermeable, and for all the girls shot him longing glances, it was never for long, and never directly _at_ him, just sort of in his general direction. I admit I watched him the whole period, how though he sat straight as a soldier, his whole body language screamed tension, how he would flinch subtly every once in a while, and how at other moments, one side of his mouth would almost twitch up into a smile. I hadn't chosen my seat intentionally, one row to his left and one seat behind his one, Eun-Ha also shared the class with me and had thus chosen it in my spot, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't appreciate the chance. And anyway, Government was boring, and observing the second part of the Cullen trio was much more interesting.

I wished I could have spoken to him, like I'd gotten the chance to with his brother, maybe even seen if I could curry a sort of friendly acquaintance that could land me access to them occasionally, and as a result, raise my esteem even more in the eyes of the rest of the school, but that was more than a little ambitious for my first day, especially when we weren't as conveniently positioned as it had been with Edward.

Class ended, and like his brother, he was the first to make his way out, leaving a group of teens breathless behind him.

"Handsome, isn't he?" Eun-Ha murmured to me when she noticed I'd been watching. Her tone made me turn to look at her; it wasn't the typical appreciative you'd expect from such a statement.

It was the last class of the day, and she was calmly packing applying a coat of gloss to her pretty peach lips using a handheld mirror. "Of course," I said in reply, gathering my own things. The class was emptying quickly, students eager to be rid of the scent of academia, and yet she sat here looking like she had nowhere else she had to be.

She hummed a noncommittal sound and closed the mirror with a snap. "He's dating his sister though." She declared, and her smile was wily.

See, now I _wanted_ to be surprised, I _wanted_ to recoil in disgust, but for some reason my brain could only think that it made a sick sort of sense. People like that, like _them_ –it was only fitting I supposed. I'd only been here a day, had barely had any interaction with them, but I knew, instinctively, that they didn't seem to be beholden to the same rules as the masses. Was this what it was for the rest of the school? An instinct to place them on a Divine sort of pedestal and not question it?

"You're not shocked?" she asked, leaning closer to me and raising a dark eyebrow. She really was pretty, and not in the unattainable, saintly way the Cullens were. No, she was human, and the soft red blush in her cheeks proved it.

"Is it bad that I'm not?" I asked, also leaning closer. Her behavior was different from what I'd been privy to the whole day. I knew she was smart, and different in that respect from the rest of Jessica's pals, but this was almost…deviousness I was getting from her. I could read it in her brown eyes; she looked, and she _saw._ Here was the girl who'd insulted Lauren with kindness earlier.

"There's a lot worse in this town," she said, and with that I had to make a concentrated effort to not let her know how much her words unsettled me.

Before I could ask anything more, Tyler appeared at the door to the classroom, and called to her. "Lee c'mon we're heading out to chill at the usual." He spied me sitting next to her and smiled. "Maude, you come too, yeah?"

Eun-Ha was already getting up, and she looked down at me with a smile, entirely different from the one she'd been sporting earlier. "Let's go," she invited.

Her abrupt change of tone was more than a little unsettling, and it became clear to me that the girl standing in front of me was wearing a mask, solidly packed and impenetrable; unless and _only unless_ she let you take a glimpse behind it. I could see no hint of the girl from only a few moments before. She was hiding again behind a smile.

I was greeted with genuine happiness when we hit the parking lot and met with the rest of the group, Mike quickly crowding in and leading me to his Jeep, and Lauren falling into place behind me as if she'd been doing it forever and not merely for a day, and while any other time I'd be satisfied with so easily assimilating myself into their circle, I couldn't help but ruminate over Eun-Ha's words.

What kind of town was this in which sibling incest wasn't even the worst thing around? Had I walked into one of those Drama-set small American towns? With layers and layers of abhorrent secrets that were just waiting to be uncovered by the unsuspecting newcomer –in this case me.

I looked around, at these teens that laughed and smiled and commiserated after the first day of a new school year, and frowned. How many more of them were wearing masks? Maybe this _was_ a Horror Movie waiting to happen.

I liked Eun-Ha, with her pin-straight dark hair and peach lips, and crafty personality. I liked how she'd planted an idea, and then stepped away. She was smart, with her backhanded compliments and deceitful personality. I suspected she often did this, said small things to entertain herself with people's reactions. She was a lot like Forrest in that respect and I could appreciate it.

Didn't mean I'd dance though.

* * *

"So, what did the bear look like?" I inquired to Bella later that evening as we cleaned up after dinner. Tonight had been fried fish and chips on their part, and stir-fried noodles on mine, and so I was scrubbing at the stove as I asked. Nonetheless I still heard the spoon drop in the sink where she was washing dishes, and was grateful my back was to her as I smiled in amusement.

I also heard her sighing, " _Maude_ , I thought we ended this conversation earlier."

"I'm still mad you didn't tell me, you know. How could you keep such a big thing to yourself? Wrestling a whole bear and coming out without a scratch?" I sniffed for effect.

"I didn't _wrestle_ it, and I told you, it wasn't a big deal," she huffed out, and there was the sound of water sloshing forcefully.

"With the way they were on about it at school, it sounded like the two of you were throwing it down to the death," I said.

"Well, that's not what happened," she told me.

I let a few moments pass as I lifted the plate guard and wiped under it, before asking my next question. "So what did happen?"

Silence, except for the sound of the dishing scraping together as she worked.

"Nothing really, it just happened while I was out hiking," she said eventually.

"You went hiking alone?" I said, not bothering to hide the dubiousness in my tone.

Uncle Charlie was taking a phone call in the living room, and his rumbling, slow tones were floating through occasionally. I imagined the concept of Bella venturing so deep into nature as to encounter a bear had been as hard for him to swallow as it was for me, yet I didn't want to be caught poking his daughter, the proverbial bear in _this_ case, with a stick.

"Yes, Phoenix was all dry rock and cactus. I can appreciate the scenery Forks has to offer sometimes," and she said it so easily, as if this was the most normal thing in the world, and indeed it almost was –if, you know, this was anyone other than my cousin.

But it wasn't, and tape rolls worth of incidents played out in my head of her crying with some leafy background variant, with an accompanying background music of her lamenting about her hatred of how _green_ Forks was.

I mean okay, people can change, but like, just last week she'd made her thoughts on coming down to the Riverside Fishing contest quite clear.

Finished with my part of the cleanup, I turned and to look at her. She was in shorts and what I suspected to be one of her dad's old baseball shirts, hair up in ponytail. I took in her smooth legs and thin shoulders, and almost laughed at the thought of her willingly going _alone_ into the wilderness.

Bella wasn't, and never would be, someone who enjoyed the Great Outdoors.

"Uh huh," I didn't bother to hide the disbelief in my tone. "And so you encountered a bear _how_?"

"It crept up on me," she declared and this time it was my turn to sigh because she couldn't honestly expect me to believe her.

"The bear crept up on you? Come on Bella, give me some more credit than your little Forks buddies, I'm not going to believe that."

"I'm telling you the truth."

I paused and squinted at her, "Does Allison Cullen have something to do with it? Was she there with you?" I asked slowly.

"What? No, _Alice_ has nothing to do with this, why would you even bring her up?"

I shrugged, "I mean, everyone seemed really surprised that you two knew each other, and you said you met her during summer-"

"Those are completely unrelated incidents. I broke my leg _after_ I met Alice, and she wasn't even around when it happened. We've only spoken like _once_ , I told you, I was alone," she declared with a frown.

"Well, you too must've had a lit ass time, if it was only once and she still waved at you months after," I said, moving closer to the sink to wash my hands. She moved aside to let me, and even passed me the lemon scented dish soap.

"She's just friendly," my cousin said.

"I thought you two weren't friends though," I pointed out, and she crossed her arms.

"I thought we were talking about my leg?"

"I'm worried that maybe she was the one who broke your leg, don't be afraid to tell me if she's secretly a bitch-"

"Maude!" she cried, sounding scandalized, shutting the faucet forcefully and leaving my hands hanging in air. I straightened up to look at my cousin, resigning myself to drying my hands on the sides of my top. Bella didn't seem to care. "Alice Cullen is _not_ a bitch, and I better not hear you saying anything negative about her again," she told me seriously.

"So you are friends."

Bella let out a sound of frustration, before turning around and heading to the kitchen table, where she started folding the placemats. It was quick, sloppy work; she was in a hurry to get away from me.

"If you are, why won't you just admit it, Bella? What is this, third grade? Do you have a crush on her that you're trying to hide? There's nothing wrong with that if you do, albeit it _would_ be a bit hard to make your affections known since she's dating her brother," I said, following her and taking a seat at the table.

"I don't have a crush on Alice," Bella said, but the way her cheeks turned red said otherwise, much to my amusement. "Anyway, who told you she and Jasper were dating?" she asked me, pausing for a moment.

"Jasper?" I echoed with clear interest. It was fitting, considering his hair and all.

"…The blond," she sounded like it took something out of her to admit.

"Incestuous practices aside, -and I _really_ can't believe I just said that, ugh- the Cullens don't even seem all _that_ bad. I don't know why you denied being friends with Alice," I said, leaning my elbows on the table. "And _God_ knows you could afford to raise your esteem a little bit more, you're hanging out with Jessica and them and getting nothing out of it," I added.

"You don't always have to get something out of social interaction, not that _you'd_ know anything about that," she retorted.

"That would hurt more if you actually liked them," I snorted, and I could tell I got her with that. Angela I could understand, she and Bella were both alike, and Angela seemed like the genuine kind of person Bella would situate herself with, but the others? I was _still_ surprised that they all sat at the same table, let alone spoke to each other.

The thing about Forks though, was that it was _tiny_. Little happened without the rest of the residents knowing, and congregating together to deal with it if it was a particularly extreme affair. The town even had a bloody Town Hall, with a Mayor, counsel and all. I knew this because I'd bloody _met_ the Mayor during the weekend, when he'd been sitting next to Uncle Charlie and laughing quite boisterously over a fat catfish he'd managed to reel in. A jovial man middle-aged man, with whiskers long enough to match the animal in his Cooler, and a large beer belly that fell heavily over his belt.

He was nice enough, giving me a few hearty slaps on the back and a loud proclamation of Welcome during our introduction, right before shuffling me off to his wife standing a few feet away, who then gave me a root beer and a smile. They were decent folk, I supposed, but the point was the whole ass _Mayor_ and his wife had been down in the forest fishing and mingling with the rest of the towns people like it was regular, which was a testament to just how small of a town this was. Everyone knew each other; everyone knew each other's business.

I could understand why, to an extent, the kids at school were so hesitant to interact with the Cullen kids. When you'd grown up, or could at least recognize on sight, most of the kids in your age group, such drastically different newcomers would be unsettling.

"Alice and I are just different, that's all," she said after a moment.

"But she's a nice person?" I asked, to which Bella huffed.

"Yes, she is."

I placed my chin in my hands, "Well maybe she and I could get along then, don't you think?"

"No," she blurt out, and I blinked at her.

"Why not? You just said she's nice, Bella."

Bella's hands twisted into the placemats she held, ruining all semblance of neatness they had, and she shook her head. "I mean yeah, but they don't really like talking with outsiders so…"

"Funny, people have been saying that, and yet _Edward_ spoke to me first today," I pointed out, and at that she paused, leveling me with an unreadable look.

"Edward spoke to you?" she repeated slowly.

"Mhmm."

She seemed to be weighing her next words carefully.

"What did he say?" she asked eventually.

I slouched back in the chair and raised my hands in a 'nothing much' gesture. "I mean, we were just talking about the teacher, and it wasn't even for a long time, but the point is _he_ initiated conversation, and he wasn't rude either. I'm getting mixed messages from what you and other people are saying, and the Cullen's own actions."

She didn't answer that. A long silence descended between the two us as she refolded the table mats, this time with a lot more care than she had the first time. I watched her do this, watched how she poured all her concentration in shaping them into neat scares and placed them one by one in the center of the round chipped table, next to the salt and sugar pot. I couldn't read her, at all, couldn't begin to guess at what was going through her head. Yet, I also couldn't manage to break the silence either.

After a minute, she sighed. "The Cullens really aren't as interesting as you think Maude, and if I were you, I wouldn't waste much time bothering with them," she declared, and with that, calmly placed the last mat in its pile, and left me alone in the kitchen.


End file.
